No woman should have to risk imprisonment to access the health services she needs, wants, and deserves. This is an important step forwards for a region with some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

We don't want to talk about the sadness that often comes with motherhood in general, never mind things like miscarriage, infertility or death. We ask women to give birth to stillborn babies and then expect them not to talk about it. We certainly don't want to say the word abortion.

Activist Judit Hatfaludi took a position with Hungary's Feminist Network to coordinate a campaign to lobby for the pro-choice bill back in the '90s. We recently caught up about the current state of women's issues in Hungary, why the annual Pride marches are no longer like jubilees, and what she does now in her current work as a shaman.

As rural families navigate these obstacles, we see people coming together to help each other in meeting a variety of needs. Rural women and their families and friends, fill in the gaps -- raise funds, babysit, cover for each other at work and drive each other long distances.

Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have promised that Congress would move on tax reform, the national debt, and repealing the Affordable Care Act. We hope that they follow through -- but given the GOP's tendency to overpromise and under-deliver, we have our doubts.

Birth control is life-saving, life-affirming health care for women. There is nothing "pro-life" about restricting birth control, and religion is no excuse for this dangerous and ugly form of discrimination.

What do a 25-year-old woman in Dhaka, Bangladesh and an 18-year-old woman in Niamey, Niger have in common? Their lives could be threatened by destructive measures passed by the new GOP-controlled Congress.

The best thing Republicans had going for them in this election was the fact that they weren't in the same party as President Obama. But it would be a huge mistake for them to act as though this was an endorsement of their policies -- a mistake they seem likely to make. A mistake that seems destined to be part of the 2016 Republican autopsy.

More and more, we live in a world where the religious beliefs of those who want to refuse health care services trump the rights of patients who deserve and need those services. This is untenable. The time has come to return the focus to patients.

While the culture wars are usually attributed to the Christian right, the U.S. Catholic bishops are in many ways responsible for starting the culture wars that have polarized society and paralyzed our political process. Today, the Catholic bishops have a chance to back down from the culture wars they started. The question is: will they?

Brittany Maynard has a right to life -- to her life. And a right to one's life requires, as an inseparable corollary, the right to terminate it. What else is a right to some action if not the freedom to choose whether or not to engage in it?

One way or another, you've heard of "The Handmaid's Tale." For decades, the title has been feminist shorthand for the kind of future that's likely for women if Christian fundamentalists have their way.

Supporters of Tennessee's Amendment 1 that just passed with 53% of the vote now plan to roll out several regulations to restrict access to abortion. Here is the underlying assumption and net affect behind each of the three new regulations.

The electorate that votes in midterm elections is older and whiter and looks more like the viewership of The O'Reilly Factor than anything that accurately reflects the true racial and ethnic diversity of this country.

I'll leave it up to others to debate the reasons behind this apparent contradiction. My own opinion is that ballot initiatives more accurately take the ideological pulse of the people because debates over issues must focus on issues, not personality, temperament or looks.